Monday, August 24, 2015

Mindset, based on Carol Dweck's book: Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, is about how we learn to fulfill our potential. Growth Mindset, according to @GrantLichtman "is about valuing questions more than answers and to demand more of your students as learners."The conversations were so engaging that time just flew by. Before our chat, conversations were going around the Twitter world about how the system impacts mindset. So we read and shared @AlfieKohn's articlePerils of the System and Growth Mindset and other resources on the system and developing a growth or fixed mindset.

The big question:What factors need to be in place to foster and nurture a growth mindset?

We used the Q1, A1 format for the questions:

We continued to follow the conversations around this for several days before #plearnchat. Then we invited educators who we believed would want to delve deeper into mindset, the system and the teacher's role in affecting how a student feels about themselves as a learner. Here's a few of the tweets that stood out:

Brian Durst @RESP3CTtheGAME

Adults should model their learning, behaviors, and risk taking, then support learners' efforts.

Danya Davis @DavisDanya

I tell my learners, "Where you are today is okay" -- What is YOUR next step? Honest self-reflection is key!

L Murray @LMurray_Build relationships with learners. What do they want to learn and why? Set goals or targets and reflect on process to meet them.

Mr.Loadman_HHS @LaudmanHHSModel growth mindset and consistently require learners to articulate growth oriented goals to you as they embrace process._____________________Here are a few resources we shared in the chat:

Shelly Vohra is an Instructional Coach and PhD Candidate in Educational Technology for the Peel District School Board in Ontario, Canada. She has been an AQ Instructor for the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) which includes Math, Reading, ESL, Special Education, Media and presently instructing Math Part One. Her responsibility as an instructional Coach is to work collaboratively with classroom teachers by focusing on individual and group professional development that will enhance and refine the understanding about research based practices and instruction. Shelly's LinkedinShelly's Website:techdiva29.wordpress.com

"Need to teach through inquiry approach; I teach through big ideas

and related essential questions. There is no one right answer."

Shelly Vohra

_____________________Our next #plearnchat is in 3 weeks: September 14, 2015 7pm ET on topic: Full STEAM Ahead_____________________

Over the next few months, we will be engaging with the Institute for Personalized Learning in a series of joint posts on Learner Agency. Learner agency often gets left out of conversations on education transformation and even conversations about personalized learning. Yet it is a critical component in any attempt to personalize the learning experience with learners.

To introduce our readers to the Institute, we would like to share a link to one of their previous posts, 5 Shifts to Learner Roles in a Personalized Learning Environment. The post examines several ways in which learners and learning play different and expanded roles in an environment where the goal is to prepare learners for a future in which continuous learning and the ability to learn independently are keys to life and career success. Cutting through the hype and noise surrounding personalized learning, learners must do much more than memorize facts and accumulate information. We risk short-changing our learners if we fail to prepare them with skills for success when we are no longer present in their lives.

Check out the post and then watch our blog and theirs as we jointly explore the concepts around learner agency.

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Guest Post from Rik Rowe, High School Mathematics Teacher in Wilmington, Massachusetts

Introducing Rik

I
facilitate learning as a High School Mathematics Teacher in Wilmington,
Massachusetts. Our classes have Twitter streaming on the side of my
blog where I keep in touch with our Learners using Twitter to maintain
the learning outside of our time in the classroom. I’m passionate about
being a connected educator. You can often find me sharpening my Culture
of Learning in #COLchat, making Learning more of a focus than Grading
while co-moderating #SBLchat (Standards-Based Learning), developing a
more integrated Professional Learning Network (PLN) in Massachusetts
while co-moderating #EdChatMA and leading a dedicated crew of Servant
Leaders in #ChristianEducators. These weekly discussion-based chats keep
me highly connected. My blog is Yearn2Learn at whsrowe.blogspot.com and my Twitter handle is @RoweRikW.

My Personal Learning Journey

As
I’m preparing to start my 16th year as an educator, I'm realizing how
important it is to make the learning personal for each and every one of
our Learners. While reading “Make Learning Personal” from Barbara Bray
and Kathleen McClaskey, I’ve been tweeting using the hashtag of
#MakeLearningPersonal. Reading their book and joining their #plearnchat
conversations has opened my eyes to more highly value and respect each
of our Learners. I’m also learning that referring to our “Students” as
“Learners” is more respectful and appropriate. Reading “Make Learning Personal” is creating a needed SHIFT for me in education.

To
start valuing our Learners in the #1st5Days, I ask our Learners to
write a letter to me answering several questions about their learning,
their background in mathematics and what interests them. Our Learners
email me their lengthy letters and I email them to a specific @Evernote
Notebook. This way, no matter where I am, I can access their letters and
review their needs and interests. I regularly search that @Evernote
Notebook for keywords based on our current learning. It might be
nursing, engineering, architecture or aviation to tap into their
strengths or challenges when facilitating our class discussion. In these
letters, our Learners also shared their perceived gaps in learning
based on their prior years of studying mathematics. We aim to strengthen
their skills, close these gaps and build resilience through
facilitation by our Learners.

Assessments

As
far as Summative Assessments (SAs), we offer our Learners the choice to
respond to 4 out of 5, 8 out of 9, 10 out of 12 or whatever is
appropriate. We have offered assessments in the form of a Tic-Tac-Toe.
Several individuals in our Professional Learning Network (PLN) have been
referring to these innovative assessments as #TTTDiff since they offer
differentiation in the form of a Tic-Tac-Toe. We have requested our
Learners to build their own Tic-Tac-Toe board with nine (9) mathematical
concepts where the items in the rows and columns align to some specific
order or have some meaning that is explained by the Learner. We find
this offers Learners choice, encourages their creativity and deepens
their thinking.

In
addition to Tic-Tac-Toe innovations, we offer Learners a choice as to
which open-response or short essay they’d choose to respond to and
defend their response. This has empowered our Learners to demonstrate
more individuality and has stimulated interesting discussions. In our
Algebra 2 course this past year, I created our weekly spiral review
packets of about 24-32 questions based on three (3) different perceived
levels of understanding (needing more of a challenge, really struggling
and needing simpler or most straight-forward questions and somewhere in
the middle). Our Learners work on their review packets over a period of
five (5) school days. When they’ve completed their packet, they hand
them in to me so I might provide feedback and determine their most
recent proficiency on the 3-4 standards assessed in these packets. These
are all questions that we’ve previously studied together and I want to
make sure they retain these fundamental skills. After reading “Make
Learning Personal”, I’m thinking that our Learners could select from 4-6
options based on the ones they need to review the most. This could make
the learning even more personalized.

Facilitation

Our
Learners are encouraged to facilitate our learning through
collaborative questioning, sharing and leadership. We start building a
strong Culture of Learning (#COLchat) in the #1st5Days that enables us
to respect each other, depend on each other, challenge each other and
value each other’s contributions. We also aim to develop skills like
prioritizing, scheduling, public speaking, coping, exhibiting confidence
and working through vulnerabilities. In addition to our mathematical
content, we strive to develop divergent, convergent and metacognitive
thinking through our collaborative learning via questioning. Each class
usually starts with a proposed agenda on the whiteboard. Our Learners
are prompted as to whether this fits their needs or whether they’d like
to adapt it to better align with their current state of understanding.
Our Learners know our learning is centered around their questions and
current proficiency levels on our standards. Their questions and
struggles guide and direct our learning. Several days our Learners
propose changes to make our learning more personal.

Adaptations based on reading “Make Learning Personal”

I’m
planning to ask our Learners to create a Personal Learner Profile (PLP)
based on eight (8) or so provided items like engaging in classroom
settings, willingness to facilitate classroom learning, ability to reach
out when challenged, learning outside of school and resilience to work
through challenges prior to asking for guidance. In addition to my eight
(8) or so items, I plan to ask our Learners to add their own 2-3 items
they’d like to identify that are either their strengths they’d like to
deepen or areas of challenge they’d like to improve upon. I want to
empower our Learners to take the driver’s seat even more than they have
previously. I plan to spend more of class time with Learners engaged in
developing higher levels of proficiency on their choice of our
Standards. I’d also like to enable our Learners to collaborate with
anyone, not just the Learners in their physical proximity.

Learner Choices

During
the 14-15 school year, there were several Learners that were regularly
outspoken about making our learning more personal. I’m now even more
grateful that I heeded their requests. One Learner frequently requested
our class to work collaboratively without any direct instruction from
me. He said, “After receiving your feedback, we now know what we need to
work on and can learn in our groups. Can we please?”

I’d
always agree. After all, I’m learning that it’s all about that they are
learning and how they are learning. Too often educators may lean toward
providing direct instruction and not yielding to what our Learners
really want or need. When I think of Professional Development (PD),
direct instruction is rarely the best avenue for my learning. A second
Learner would often greet me at the door, ask me about my day and then
ask if our class could please work in their groups helping each other.
He’d always assure me that they’d beckon me to assist when they needed
me. He and his classmates were often so thankful when I’d say “Of
course”. He assured me they would get all their work done. He always had
such a big smile when conversing with me! His leadership skills have
soared over our year together! Finally, there was a group of Learners
that were enrolled in the same course with me, but in different
sections. Therefore, they had class with me at different times.

I
continue to be stunned but grateful when our Learners take
responsibility or ownership for their learning and convey what they need
or what they’d like to bypass. Reading “Make Learning Personal” has
revealed to me that when the needs, interests and challenges of our
Learners become the focus of our collaborative learning, engagement
ignites.

I
encourage you to join me by reading and applying the truths in “Make
Learning Personal” to create a SHIFT in education that puts our Learners
in the driver’s seat! Also, consider joining me as I’ve enrolled in the
“5 W’s of Personalized Learning” online course this fall. It’s sure to be a great learning and sharing experience for all!

Monday, August 3, 2015

Transforming teaching and learning does not happen overnight. Moving to Personalized Learning Environments is a huge shift where schools create an active learning culture based on trust and respect. The leader leads the way. David Buck @dbuckedu made a strong point in "A2: Burden of proof lies with the leader. Must provide evidence-based results that show the personalized approach leaders to deep learning."

There are many aspects of leadership to focus on this topic for #plearnchat so we reached out for questions and ideas from our Twitter friends. We decided that we first needed to ask about the qualities and characteristics of leaders.

The big question:How do you set the stage for change and personalized learning?

We used the Q1, A1 format for the questions:

There were so many conversations that stood out that to choose any was going to be tough. Here's just a few of the great comments during the chat:

Rik Rowe @RoweRikW
Since Ts are on the front line, admins who are open to incorporate innovative learning approaches are greatly appreciated.

Shelly Vohra @raspberryberet3
Leaders need to grow as well; don't follow the norm, take risks, support Ts, and need a growth mindset.

Joël McLEAN @jprofNB
Not be afraid to be vulnerable. Lead by example, be in the "trenches", and support your teachers.

Lynn Spady @lynnspady
Be available...to brainstorm, to lend a helping hand when someone wants to try something new, and to share successes and failures.

Carlie Stigler, @cstigler28, is a 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade multiage teacher at Fond du Lac STEM Academy in Fond du Lac, WI. She received her bachelor's degree from Carroll University in Elementary Education and Special Education with a minor in Early Childhood. Carlie is on a mission to facilitate learning spaces that embody community, inclusion, collaboration, and personalizing learning amongst and between educators and learners. As Carlie continues to grow as an educator and learner, she is excited to be a part of the changes in our education system that need to occur to meet the interests and demands of our world.

Carlie has been on the Dr. Will Showso we shared a few of the links to the archived shows.